The present invention is directed to hair accessories, and more particularly to a novel and improved hair accessory device providing a novel and advantageous means of incorporating supplemental, decorative hair elements into the natural hair of the user.
Various devices are known in the art for attaching hair supplements, either in the form of natural hair, or synthetic hair into the natural hair arrangement of the user. Typically, such hair supplements may comprise decorative braids, or in some cases unbraided strands. All of the known devices of which I am aware have significant disadvantages. In some cases, the devices are insecurely attached to the natural hair of the user, so as to be subject to easy displacement or dislodgment. In other cases, the mode of attachment of the supplemental hair to the fastening device is such that the supplemental hair is readily recognizable as such. In many cases, known devices suffer from both of the aforementioned disadvantages.
In accordance with the present invention, a novel and improved hair accessory device is provided which incorporates a claw-type hair clip device, in itself well known, and incorporates supplemental hair strands with such device in a novel and unique manner such that it is extremely difficult to ascertain that the supplemental hair is not the natural hair of the wearer.
Pursuant to the invention, the new hair accessory comprises a claw-type hair clip, which comprises a pair of arcuately contoured comb-like clip elements secured together for pivotal movement. In a closed position of the clip, the tines of one element are received in between-tine spaces of the other element. A spring urges the claw elements to their closed position, but the claw can be easily opened manually by squeezing together tabs provided for this purpose on the respective claw elements.
A quantity of supplemental hair, which advantageously may be arranged in the form of a flat ribbon of side-by-side hair strands, is secured on the inside of the clip, preferably extending over a substantial portion of the length of the clip. Upper ends of the supplemental hair strands are secured to an inside surface area of at least one of the clip elements, at a level above the between-tine spaces of the clip element. The hair strands are divided into groups and the individual groups are led through the spaces of one of the clip elements. When the clip is installed in the wearer's hair, the multiple strand groups of supplemental hair, exiting from the between-tine spaces of the clip give every appearance of being the natural hair of the wearer, because the securement of the supplemental hair is completely concealed from the outside observer.
In various embodiments of the invention, the supplemental hair may be allowed to drape naturally in separated strands from the clip, or may be gathered externally of the clip to form one or more braids.
Pursuant to another embodiment of the invention, the strands of supplemental hair, especially if braided, may have multiple beads and other eye-catching fashion elements attached thereto to achieve startling and highly desirable fashion effects. The use of such fashion elements is made more practical by the present invention, as a result of the use of the claw-type clip, which attaches tenaciously to the wearer's hair, such that the added weight and momentum of the fashion elements does not tend to detach the clip from the position in which it is installed by the user.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention and to the accompanying drawings.